Former House member Corman, a chiropractic advocate for the 20 years he served in Congress, will represent the ICA's interests before the House and will serve as ICA's chief legislative counsel. Mr. Corman was the principal proponent of chiropractic inclusion in Medicare and Medicaid programs in the 1970s, and was the author of Medicare reform legislation after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) declined to reimburse DCs for x-rays and physical exams.
The firm of Meyers & Associates, headed by Larry Meyers, will handle chiropractic issues in the Senate. Mr. Meyers was a domestic policy official in the Carter administration and was legislative assistant to former Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen. He has several decades of experience in Washington and in 1989 was named by Beacham's Guide to Key Lobbyists as one of the top 125 lobbyists out of several thousand currently active.
To deal with officials in the Clinton administration, the ICA has sought the assistance of former Democratic National Committee Chairman John White. Mr. White was also administration undersecretary to President Carter, and played an important role in the Clinton campaign.
The ICA has identified 108 legislative executive branch decision makers who will be involved in setting national health policy priorities and reforms. These leaders are targeted for grass-roots communications on chiropractic.
The ICA has also scheduled six National Health Policy Forums. Invited policy makers will exchange information, ideas, concerns, and be educated about the chiropractic profession and the benefits chiropractic can offer the health care reform effort.
"National health care reform and proposals to cover those who presently have no insurance coverage will be the principle battleground in the months ahead," said ICA President Dr. R. James Gregg. Dr. Gregg stressed that adminstration officials understand the cost-effectiveness of chiropractic, and the contributions chiropractic can make in national health care. Dr. Gregg said that "patient rights and freedoms must be protected in order to ensure the highest quality in health care delivery."
The ICA's top legislative priorities are including chiropractic in the mandated services under any new national health care plan; establishing a chiropractic department within the Veterans Administration; securing chiropractic research funds; and implementing the military commissioning law.
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